The Divine Comedy
A Classical Quest through Hell, Purgatory,
and Paradise
Dante’s
Paradiso
Structure:
The Quest
For
Salvation
Inferno
Purgatorio
POINTS TO REMEMBER
• THE INFERNO IS • IT IS ALSO AN
PART OF A WORK ALLEGORY.
CALLED THE DIVINE
COMEDY.
• IN THE MIDDLE AGES
COMEDY MEANT
SOME HUMAN
EXPERIENCE THAT
BEGAN IN TRAGEDY
AND ENDED IN
HAPPINESS.
Allegory
• In an allegory the characters,
setting and plot have a hidden or
symbolic meaning beyond their
literal meaning.
• An Allegory teaches a moral
lesson
• TO POINT OUT TO THOSE STILL LIVING
THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS AND TO PUT
THEM ON THE PATH OF SALVATION.
DANTE ALIGHIERI
• Born in Florence, May,
1265.
• His family was old and
of noble origin, but no
longer wealthy.
Excommunicated from the Roman
Catholic Church.
Exiled from his home, Florence, Italy.
BEATRICE
• As customary, Dante • Dante met Beatrice
had an arranged when he was nine and
marriage in his youth she eight, at his
to Gemma Donati, father’s home, most
daughter of Manetto likely for a May Day
Donati. festival.
• Beatrice married
another man about
• But Dante’s greatest 1287, and died in 1290
love, and the greatest at the age of 25.
single influence on his • After her death in
work, was a woman 1290, he dedicated a
named Beatrice. memorial “The New
Life” (La Vita Nuova) to
her.
BEATRICE
•Beatrice was Dante’s angel. He
could not touch her, because this
was the age of Courtly love.
•Dante’s life and work were
dedicated to her.
•Dante’s muse and inspiration—
the female aspect behind the
genius.
•She is the divine light of love.
Virgil
• Roman author of The Aeneid, the national epic of
Rome.
• Virgil is Dante’s guide through Hell.
• “forbids me to come there…” Virgil lived and died
before the establishment of Christ’s teachings in Rome
and cannot therefore enter Heaven.
VIRGIL 70 B.C.E. 19 B.C.E
• He was the greatest • Virgil is also revered
of the Roman poets. as the poet of the
Roman Empire.
• His Aeneid provided
the pattern for the • The Aeneid tells of the
structure of Dante’s Empire’s founding.
Hell. • Virgil also wrote in his
fourth ecologue of the
• Virgil was chosen as coming of a Wonder
Dante’s guide Child who will bring
through Hell, the Golden Age.
because Dante saw • This was interpreted
him as his master in the Middle Ages as
and inspiration for the coming of Christ.
his poetic style.
THREE SECTIONS OF THE DIVINE COMEDY
INFERNO, PURGATORIO, AND PARADISO
3 was a holy
number to Dante
— suggesting the
Holy Trinity.
STRUCTURE OF
THE DIVINE COMEDY
DANTE’S NUMERICAL
SYMBOLISM:
DANTE’S WORLD WAS ONE
3 A SYMBOL OF THE HOLY
THAT BELIEVED IN MYSTICAL
TRINITY
CORRESPONDENCES AND
THE POWER OF NUMBERS, 9 THREE TIMES THREE.
STARS, AND STONES 33 A MULTIPLE OF 3
THE 7 DAYS OF CREATION
10 CONSIDERED IN THE
EVENTS OF HISTORY—
MEDIEVAL PERIOD A PERFECT
CONTAINED A MYSTICAL
NUMBER
SIGNIFICANCE.
100, THE MULTIPLE OF 10.
STRUCTURE OF
THE DIVINE COMEDY
• Three major divisions
Each section has 33 cantos
(small division of poetry; canto of sin:
means “song.”) Incontinence
The Inferno includes an
Violence
introductory canto, which
Fraudulence
makes 100 cantos total (1oo
representing the idea of
Three-line poetric
perfection or spiritual
structure:
enlightenment achieved after
the journey). Terza Rima
The Form of the Poem
•Epic poem in the tradition of Homer (The Odyssey, The
Iliad) and Virgil (The Aeneid)
•Employs terza rima:
- three-line stanzas(tercet)
- chain rhyme: A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D
- no limit to the number of lines
•No set rhythm for terza rima
Dante’s Use of Terza Rima
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita Midway upon the journey of our life
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, I found myself within a forest dark,
ché la diritta via era smarrita. For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
che nel pensier rinova la paura! Which in the very thought renews the fear.
Tant’ è amara che poco è più morte; So bitter is it, death is little more;
ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai, But of the good to treat, which there I found,
dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte. Speak will I of the other things I saw there.
Io non so ben ridir com’ i’ v’intrai,10 I cannot well repeat how there I entered,10
tant’ era pien di sonno a quel punto So full was I of slumber at the moment
che la verace via abbandonai. In which I had abandoned the true way.
Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto, But after I had reached a mountain's foot,
là dove terminava quella valle At that point where the valley terminated,
che m’avea di paura il cor compunto, Which had with consternation pierced my heart,
guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta Vested already with that planet's rays
che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle. Which leadeth others right by every road.
The Inferno
• Dante is the main character in The Divine
Comedy.
• The Inferno is a telling of Dante’s journey
through the nine circles of Hell.
• Dante begins his journey through Hell on
Good Friday and ends on Easter Sunday.
• This symbolizes the journey of Jesus,
crucified on Good Friday, descended into
Hell and was resurrected to live again on
Easter Sunday.
THE SPIRALING INFERNO
• DANTE’S HELL IS A • ITS REGIONS ARE
HUGE FUNNEL ARRANGED IN A SERIES
SHAPED PIT. OF DESCENDING
CIRCULAR STAIRCASES
THAT DIMINISH IN
• THE CENTER IS CIRCUMFERENCE THE
LOCATED BENEATH DEEPER THAT VIRGIL
JERUSALEM. AND DANTE TRAVEL.
• THE NINE REGIONS • THE HIGHER UP A
ARE DESIGNATED SINNER, THE LIGHTER
FOR A PARTICULAR THE SIN, THE DEEPER
SIN. THE SINNER, THE
DARKER AND MORE
TERRIBLE THE SIN.
The Nine Circles of Hell
• Circle 1- LIMBO
• Circle 2- The Lustful
Circles 2-5 are
• Circle 3- The Gluttonous Sins without
• Circle 4- Misers and Spendthrifts Malice.
They do not hurt
• Circle 5- Wrathful and Sullen others.
• Circle 6- Heretics
• Circle 7- The Violent (Murder & Suicide)
• Circle 8- The Fraudulent
• Circle 9- Traitors
Cantos 1-2
The Dark Wood
Three Beasts:
Leopard
Lion
She-wolf
Virgil as Guide
Three Blessed Women:
Virgin Mary
St. Lucia
Beatrice
The Three Beasts by Priamo della Quercia (1444-1452)
Symbols: The three beasts (leopard, lion, and she-wolf) are symbols
that represent the three divisions of sin (fraud, violence, and
incontinence). These are the sins that were believed to have caused
the downfall of humankind, and since Dante is at a crossroads in his
life, this journey is intended to make him question his life and what
punishment might await him for the sins he has committed.
Symbolism and Allusion:
The three beasts might also She-Wolf by
Gustave
symbolize the politics of the Dore
day. Because of the conflict
between the Pope and the
Emperor, leadership was
continually in question. The
Greyhound was believed to Lion by
Gustave
be an allusion to the hope for Dore
a future leader who would
come to save Italy.
Canto 3
Gates of Hell
Vestibule
“Abandon all hope ye
who enter here.”
Cowards
The Indecisive Angels
Punishment:
They are stung by insects
and endlessly chase
banners.
Acheron River
Charon
Canto 5
Circle 2
Lust
Punishment:
The lustful souls are
blown about in a
violent storm, without
hope of rest.
Minos
Francesca da Rimini
and her lover Paolo
Cantos 31-34
Circle 9
Betrayal
Caïna—Traitors to kindred: They are immersed in
ice up to their faces.
Antenora—Traitors to country/political entities:
They are immersed in ice and forced to eat out the skull
of another sinner or have their skulls eaten by another
sinner.
Ptolomaea—Traitors to their guests: They lie supine
in the ice, which covers them, except for their faces.
Their bodies on Earth are immediately possessed by a
demon, so what seems to be a walking man has reached
the stage of being incapable of repentance.
Judecca—Traitors to their lords and benefactors:
They are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all
conceivable positions. Satan appears upside down with
three faces, and in each mouth eternally being eaten are
Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Iscariot.
